NHS drugs could be bought on a value-based approach if proposals from the government are approved.
The plans are at the core of a new system for regulating the prices of branded medicines dependant on thresholds or maximum prices that reflect a broader range of factors than present.
These maximum prices would increase for medicines that: tackle diseases where there is a greater "burden of illness," show greater therapeutic innovation and improvements, and provide wider societal benefits.
It will succeed the current purchasing agreement that expires at the end of 2013 and branded medicines already covered by the present regulations will be placed under a successor scheme sitting alongside.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will continue to have an important advisory role in the new system, including in assessing the clinical benefits of new medicines and giving authoritative evidenced-based advice to clinicians, according to the proposals.
